Doomsday
by The Misty Author
Summary: The Author is back, but so is Bill. It's up to the Ten Symbols to stop him, but some of them might not survive. WARNING: SPOILERS TO NWHS. Rated T for character's death.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Many Happy (and not so happy) Returns

A/N: I do not own Gravity Falls, not the characters.

The flash of light faded, but everything was a blur. Then everything turned steady again, and a dark, hooded figure was standing in the middle of the open portal. The mysterious figure moved forward, his steps slow and heavy. He stopped near Journal #1, rested his hand – his _six fingered_ hand – on the cover, grabbed it and put it in the pocket of his long coat.

"What-" asked Dipper, shocked. "Who is this?"

"The author of the Journals," answered Stan. "My brother." At this point the Author removed the hood from his face and revealed curly, brown hair and broken glasses, but beside that, he looked quite similar to Stan.

"Stanley!" cried Stan and got up. "I'm so-"

"Thirty years." Said the Author quietly. "What took you so long?"

Stanford's smile disappeared. "McGucket left, and I was trying to fix the portal, but-"

"I left _instructions!_ Besides, we built the portal _together!_ " He paused and sighed. "I've been chasing and fighting Bill for so many years, and then one day he disappeared. I tried to find him – I thought he came back and he – that you were –" his voice broke, as if he was on the edge of bursting into tears.

"Grunkle Stan?" asked Mabel. "What's going on?"

Stanley raised a brow at his brother. "Grunkle?"

Stanford sighed. "You better sit. We have a lot to talk about."

A few hours earlier Fiddleford was running, getting as far as he could from the town. The road sign set in front of him read "Now leaving Gravity Falls, Oregon". "Finally," he murmured. He was exhausted.

"Where d'you think _you're_ going, Glasses?" dang it. He was so close. Why now?

"Y'know, considering what's happening in the Shack right now, I expected you to be there. Don't wanna miss the reunion, don't you?"

 _Reunion?_ Thought McGucket. _What's he talking about?_

"That's right," said Bill. " **He's back.** "

 _No way._ "You're lying!" he snapped.

"Oh, but you know I'm not." He paused. When he spoke again, he sounded sadistic. "Too bad he'll never see you again."

"What?" Blue flames wrapped around McGucket's body as Bill made him float. The pain was unbearable. He couldn't breathe.

Just before he fainted, McGucket could hear Bill murmur something about "the other nine", but then everything went black,

and they both vanished in a flash of light.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: I do not own Gravity Falls._

Chapter 2 – Countdown from 10 To 1

Prisoner #10618, also known as Gideon Charles Gleeful, was sitting in his prison cell, doing absolutely nothing (unless you consider plotting revenge against the Pines family as something), when bright blue light flashed in front of him, forming a triangle. A familiar laughter echoed through the air, filling Gideon with horror. He stepped back. "W-what do you want, demon?" he yelled, trying to hide the panic in his voice. "I thought I told you the deal is canceled!"

"You can't cancel a deal with a demon until it's finished, kid!" Bill announced. "I did my part, now it's your turn to do yours."

 _Oh, crap._ "Fine. What do you want?"

"Hmm, let's see… I... want… **you**."

"What!?" But before Gideon could react, Bill flicked his fingers and the boy disappeared.

The dream demon smiled.

The Glasses and the Star were both in his hands.

"Thirty years…"

"…I was trying to-"

"…Chasing and fighting Bill…"

Dipper wasn't paying much attention to the argument between the long-separated brothers. His mind was full of questions. Was Stan lying again? Was he even _Stan_? And who was this man? Was he really _**the**_ Author?

"Hey," he whispered to Mabel. "You okay?"

"No," she admitted. She turned to their great uncle. "Grunkle Stan," she asked. "What's going on?"

The stranger raised a brow at Stan. "Grunkle?"

Stan sighed. "You better sit. We have a lot to talk about."

"Not now," the Author interrupted. "We have to get out of here. Besides," he looked at Stan. "It sounds like you have guests. Again."

"Yeah, but dudes," said Soos. "The agents are still out there. We can't get out."

"They won't leave until they'll get what they want," stated Stan. He glanced at his brother. "Give me ten minutes. Then get in the car and drive as far as you can from the Mystery Shack. And _don't follow the cops_."

"Wait, Grunkle Stan," cried Mabel. "What are you gonna do?"

He sighed. "Sorry, kid." He murmured as he left the lab.

And though Mabel didn't realize what Stan's up to, Dipper did. _He's gonna turn himself in,_ he thought.


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Hello guys! Thank you SO MUCH for reading, following and favoring my fanfic!_

 _P.S. I would like to thank my AMAZING friend Roi who'd wrote the prophecy for this chapter._

 _Okay, no more talking. Read and enjoy! (once again – I do not own Gravity Falls.)_

Chapter 3 - The Prophecy

Agent K. Trigger knew the cab was a distraction as soon as it drove away from the Mystery Shack. He knew his target too well – he needed to get back there, and nothing could stop him. Not even the FBI. He ordered a few agents to find the man, just in case it really _was_ him in the cab, and then got back to the Shack on his own.

Just as he thought, when he'd returned the other agents already left. But surprisingly there _was_ someone outside the Mystery Shack. He was just standing there. Waiting.

It was Stanford himself.

 _What's he up to this time?_ Thought Trigger as he stepped out of the car, aiming a gun at the escaped criminal, who looked like he'd just lost in a battle against a tornado.

"Stanford Pines," cried Trigger. "I put you under arrest. Anything you-"

"Yeah, Yeah, anything I say may and will be used against me, blah, blah, blah. Would you please hurry?"

Well, he certainly _did not_ expect that. _Well, I guess it doesn't really matter. Besides, I'm armed and he's not. What can he possibly do?_ Trigger approached to him. The man didn't even try to escape - _does he really surrender?_ \- as Trigger handcuffed his hands and marched him toward the car. Once they were inside, Trigger started the car and drove away.

They drove in silence for a while, then Stan said, "You're not gonna report you got me?" he asked and glanced at the window. He saw more and more trees by the roadside. "By the way, shouldn't you take me to the police station, _not_ the forest?"

The agent didn't respond. _Don't worry,_ he thought. _All will become clear soon._

Pacifica Northwest sat on her bed in her big bedroom, though right now it made her feel stifled.

After last night's events her father was _so_ mad - he hit her again, for the first time in a year and a half, and locked her in her room.

And honestly, it didn't bother her. At least not until she started to float.

"What the hell-" she tried to hold on to her four-poster bed's poles and pull herself down, but she failed. Whatever made her lift was now holding her close to the ceiling, but far enough from the chandelier to prevent her from reaching it. But she wouldn't dare to try to move anyway.

Suddenly everything around her turned grey, and even time seemed to stop. A voice, which seemed to come out of nowhere, said, "Calm down, it's alright. I can help you."

Pacifica glanced around. "Who are you?" she cried. "Where are you? I can't see you!"

"Over here, on your right!" the voice answered. She turned her head to her right and saw an outstretched hand, wearing a black glove, but not the body to which it belonged. "Take my hand!" said the voice, and this time sounded more aggressive.

Pacifica hesitated, but she had no choice. The mysterious force which held her in the air became weaker. It will soon fade completely and let her fall. She reached her hand for the other one, it felt odd, as if trying to hold the air itself in your hand. The voice laughed, a terrifying laughter which made Pacifica shiver. To her horror she realized - too late - that there wasn't any glove on the hand. The hand itself was entirely black. "And now, Llama," said the voice, almost whispering. "You're mine."

He pulled her closer to him, the world around her swirled in a whirlwind of colors, and then… nothing.

"It's time," said the Author. "Let's go." With the Journal #1 and #2 in the Author's coat, and Journal #3 in Dipper's vest, the four of them walked toward the elevator.

When they climbed the stairs toward the secret entrance to the underground lab, the door was blocked. "Damn it," hissed the Author. "The vending machine must have fallen on the other side." he gestured for Soos to come closer and together they had managed to push and open the door so the four of them could pass through.

The world outside seemed like a wreck - the Mystery Shack's furniture were overturned and scattered throughout the room, pictures fell off the walls, and the roof had probably collapsed inwards due to the wave of destruction that the portal released once it was open. A few trees outside were ripped out of their place and fell on the road. A few other houses in the town looked like ruins but most of the damage was caused to the Shack.

At least the car was fine. And surprisingly, still on the ground.

They made their way to it through the ruins of the house, every now and then stopping to divert wood beams, which had fell from the attic.

At last they managed to get out. Soos gave the car keys to Stanley, who sat in the driver's seat and started the car. Soos sat next to him, and Dipper and Mabel sat behind them.

"Where are we going?" asked Mabel.

It seemed that the Author didn't hear the question. Instead of answering he said, "Dipper, would you please find the page about Bill Cipher in Journal #3."

Dipper did as he said and opened the Journal. "Found it. But I've read this part a million times before, there's nothing-"

The Author didn't seem surprised. "Turn on the ultra-violet light."

Dipper turned on the ultra-violet lamp. A new text appeared in front of his eyes, and his eyes widened with surprise. "Umm...what's that?"

"Read it," Stanley ordered.

"Okay..." Dipper cleared his throat and read something that sounded like an ancient prophecy:

 _When the Ten will gather, the world will be on its demise,_

 _For a triangle demon will be summoned and arise._

 _But if the ritual is flawed, even by one mistake,_

 _He will be banished, and the life of one of them he'll take._

He looked up and asked, "What does it mean?"

Without saying a word, Stanley pulled out of the pocket of his coat Journal #2 and handed it to Dipper, and kept driving with the other hand. "Creature number 326."

Dipper looked for the page until he'd found it. "But...it's Bill. Why…?"

"Pay attention to the Symbol Wheel. It has ten Symbols, right? That's what the prophecy you've just read is about. The ten symbols represent ten people, who are supposed to perform a ritual which would summon the demon from the center of the wheel - Bill Cipher - to our world, with his full power."

"Can't we do something to stop him?" asked Mabel.

"Unfortunately, at this point, the ritual is inevitable - one way or another, it will be performed. The only way to stop Bill is to disrupt the ritual once it's already started, so that Bill will return to his dimension and stay there, trapped forever. The problem is, that disruption the ritual would require a victim - one of the Ten who will wake the demon."

"Well, that shouldn't be a problem," said Dipper. "These people probably cooperate with Bill, right? So we just have to interrupt during the ritual, and then Bill will be banished and one of them will die."

"It's not _that_ simple. First of all, these people do not cooperate with Bill. Some did before, but nowadays…"

"Sounds like you know who these people are. Why wouldn't you tell us, so we'd know who are we gonna interfere?"

The Author looked directly at him through the car's mirror. "For starters, you."

Dipper was left without words, the color drained from his face in surprise. "What?" asked Mabel.

"You too. Actually, Four out of the Ten are sitting in this car right now."

"Can't be," murmured Soos. "None of us is gonna summon Bill."

Stanley sighed. "No one ever said the Symbols would do it voluntarily. In fact, we were safe, and I thought the prophecy would never come true, until my brother opened the portal and brought me back to this world. As long as one of the Symbols is missing, one cannot perform the ritual. But once all are united…" he sighed again. "If I'd return earlier, I could've done something to prevent this. Or I'd stay in the other dimension, and then nothing would happen."

 _I was right,_ Dipper thought. _If Mabel would shut the portal down, Stanley wouldn't come back and the prophecy wouldn't come true. And now we're all doomed._

 _A/N: Please like, follow &review!_


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Hi guys. Thanks for liking, reviewing and following, it really motivates me, and the more I'm motivated – the faster I write and upload new chapters._

 _P.S. When the word "symbol" is written with a capital letter, it refers to one of the people on the Cipher Wheel. When it's written without a capital letter, it's just a symbol. Just wanted to clear this up._

Chapter 4 - Change

Tambry searched through her phone contact list. Once she'd found the number she was looking for, she dialed it.

" _Hi, this is Wendy's voice mail, please leave a message…_ "

 _Dammit._ She pressed on the _end call_ button and stared at the screen. _Robbie didn't answer either._ Could it be because of the strange thing that happened earlier, which made everything float? _Yeah,_ she reassured herself. _Their phone must be broken or something. Or they're too busy fixing the damage done to their houses and just didn't pick up their phone fast enough. Yeah, that's it._

Yet she could not let go of the feeling that something is wrong.

 _ **XQNQRZQ VRXUFH: L vkrxogq'w kdyh grqh lw**_

"Cheer up, grandpa," said Mabel. _Wow, I still can't believe the Author is my grandfather._ "First of all, as long as we're separate from the others, the ritual won't be held."

"And look," Dipper pointed at the symbol of the pentagram with the eye in the middle. "This symbol was on Gideon's Tent of Telepathy! It must be representing him!"

"So we have nothing to worry about," said Soos. "He's in jail."

The Author didn't respond, but looked forward and kept driving. The car deepened into the woods.

"Umm… where are we going?" asked Dipper.

"To a safe and isolated place which I've built before I was trapped in the parallel universe." The Author finally stopped the car in front of a tree with a branch looked like a lever. "My bunker."

They stepped out of the car and the Author pulled the branch/lever. The tree sank into a hidden pit and revealed a staircase that led into the deep darkness.

 _ **XQNQRZQ VRXUFH: Li dqbrqh fdq khdu ph, sohdvh rshq wkh sruwdo wr wkh Glphqvlrq ri- zkdw duh BRX grlqj khuh?**_

The man finished drawing on the floor and stepped back to look at his work. The ancient symbols were arranged in a circle, just like in the prophecy his master told him a few weeks ago, when they first met. The words still echoed in his mind. _"Great powers are about to be released,"_ said the Stranger. _"And I need your help to perform the ritual."_ After his new partner agreed, the Stranger disappeared as he had come. Since then the Stranger kept giving the man orders - go there, meet him, do this, say that - orders which had eventually led him to a place that looked about as mysterious as the Stranger himself.

"One, two, three, four, five, six," the man smirked to himself while counting quietly the chained and fuzzy people - some even unconscious - which lay or sat in specific places in the circle.

"Why are you doing this?" cried a girl and glared at him with wild eyes. He remembered how hard it was to capture and bring her here. He gritted his teeth and ignored her.

The sound of quiet steps interrupted his thoughts. "I told you they would come here," said the Stranger. The man nodded in agreement. "But we are ready for them."

"Not quite," the Stranger floated toward him out of the shadows and stopped a step away from him. "Are you willing to give me access to your body, instead of your soul?"

"Don't do it, Trigger!" shouted the man he'd been chasing all day, Stanford. The man who tried to stop the Stranger, but ironically, what he did allowed the performing of this ritual. "Don't let him get into your body!"

"Shut up, old man!" he snapped, then turned back to the Stranger. "I am."

The Stranger reached his hand and touched Trigger's forehead, making him feel as if he was sucked into a whirlpool. Then he faded.

"And **now** ," said the Stranger through Trigger's body. "We're ready."

 _ **XQNQRZQ VRXUFH: Wkh kxpdq pxvw eh vwrsshg**_

"This way," instructed the Author and turned to a side tunnel. The others followed.

"I didn't see this tunnel the last time we were here," commented Dipper.

"On the other hand, we didn't have time to explore the area while the shape shifter was chasing us," remarked Mabel. Soos nodded in agreement.

As they walked the Author could feel that something was wrong. _Someone's here,_ he thought. _Stanford?_ No, he told himself; _do not_ develop a vain hope. You don't even know where he is. You only know he did something dangerous, and he might not return. And don't even _think_ about Fiddleford - you don't even know what happened to him, or if he's alive.

An odd sound behind him made turn around, but he didn't see anything unusual. _Probably just the kids._ He kept walking, but was still troubled. A yellowish and bluish glow flashed from the further part of the tunnel, where the big cave was, and beyond it…

Suddenly everything was clear - he realized who and _what_ were in the cave. Now the flash troubled him even more. He stopped and pulled a small scratch pad and a pen out of his pocket. He wrote something on one of the pages with the pen, then put the pen in his pocket, took another one and wrote something else. Then he dropped the page on the tunnel's floor and kept walking. A few steps away he stopped again, drew a blue crystal out of the other pocket and shattered it at his feet.

Dipper halted near the note for a moment and Mabel stopped next to him. "What's the deal?" she asked.

Dipper shook his head. "It's nothing, let's go." he said and walked away, but Mabel looked at the note, which said the following:

 **Release me exactly in twenty minutes. Make sure He won't see you.**

 _He?_ she wondered, but when she saw that the others already moved on, she ran after them. She shivered a bit, just like in Stan's mind, just before Bill appeared, but she assumed it was because of everything that had happened that day. She took three steps back and encountered into a stone wall. _That's odd; I could've sworn that wasn't here before._ The new wall blocked the path and trapped them there. She ran to the others, whom stood at the entrance to the cave. "Umm, guys…" she went silent when she saw what they were looking at.

An empty circle has been drawn on the floor, and another one around it, divided into ten parts. A symbol was drawn on each slot, and people sat on six of them, all tied - on the other side of the cave lay McGucket, unconscious, on the Glasses. Robbie, the Stitch Heart, sat to his right, staring in shock at what happened. The slot on Robbie's right, the Shooting Star, was empty. Pacifica sat on the Llama symbol with red and puffy eyes, as if she cried. The Six-Fingered Hand's slot was empty. Gideon was in the Pentagram's place. The Pine Tree had no one its place. Stanford sat in the Crescent Moon's place and looked defeated. Wendy, the Ice Bag, had the look of a caged wild animal. The tenth symbol, another empty slot, was the Question Mark.

 _Pine Tree, Shooting Star, Question Mark,_ thought Mabel. _That's how Bill referred to me, Dipper and Soos when we were in Stan's mind. The Hand must be Stanley, so…_

"Well, well." she heard a terribly familiar voice behind her, followed by sarcastic claps. "All ten are here. Gen it your places and we shall start the Ceremony."

Dipper answered automatically: "What makes you think we'll coopera- oh, shit." he paused when he saw Bill.

"D'you like my new form?" Bill smirked. "Oh, our government is truly wonderful. Too bad it tends to forget about what happens to Voluntary Hosts of demons. I'm afraid Agent Trigger won't be the only one to die tonight." his new horrifying face twisted with what seemed to be a derisive smile. Three bloody scratches created a triangle shape around his one eye, and instead of the other one there was just an empty hole. His eye and hair were as yellow as he was in his triangle form. Each and every exposed part of his skin was covered was covered in symbols - some were identical to the symbols on the Wheel, others taken from different places - hieroglyphs, alchemy symbols - and some symbols were common, like a cross and a fleur-de-lis.

He snapped his fingers and blue energy ropes wrapped themselves around the four remaining Symbols. Each one of them hovered to their reserved place in the circle and landed with a thud.

Bill stood in the middle of the inner circle. "And now," he declared ominously. "We begin."

 _A/N: Yup, it's a cliffhanger. *Evil laughter* don't worry; I'll try to finish the next chapter as soon as possible. Hopefully before "A Tale of Two Stans"._

 _By the way, the encrypted messages are_ _ **important**_ _, so make sure you decrypt_ _ **everything.**_ _Also, if you like the story, like, review and follow!_


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: *sings horribly 'cause it doesn't even fit in the music*_

 _Oops, I did it again_

 _I made a character die_

 _And now I hug my cat and cry…_

 _La la la rainbow…_

 _Sorry, I just couldn't help it. Anyway, here's a new chapter!_

Chapter 5 - Ceremony of the Ten

Despite the cumbersome feeling after the long stay in the mindscape, Bill had no problem taking control over his new physical form. He had penetrated human bodies many times before, but what he's done now was a complete takeover of the body while destroying the host's soul. _A complete amalgamation. Still better than what Armageddon must do…_

He summoned the three Journals, which floated toward him and opened exactly in the right page - a meaningless text on its own, but once the three parts were gathered, it was horribly dangerous. This text was the real reason for keeping the Journals separate, not just the portal. As he read it, his body and the symbols on the Wheel began to glow.

"Anima electus, dare me potentiam vestrum

Dare me industriam pro ascensus meo

Et regni creando mea tantibus

Ultra terminum mundo suo."

As he was talking, his eyes and the symbols inscribed on the floor began to glow with bright yellow light. Bill went on with the spell, and the energy ropes seemed to tighten. _Just a little more,_ thought Stanley and tried not to look directly at the demon.

"I'm here." The sudden voice made him jump. "Now?"

Bill stopped murmuring and turned to the Author. Though he seemed to look… beyond. "Now," said the Author, and the energy ropes around him disappeared at once. **"You,"** Bill hissed. "You shouldn't be here! You must not interfere!"

"Ah, yes. It's the critical stage of your ceremony," Stanley stoop up and raised his hand. Now everyone could see the knife that he hid behind his back. "What if one of your Symbols will just… die?"

"Six Fingers, I warn you…"

"Don't do this!" cried Stan.

Stanley smiled sadly. "I have to." He lowered his hand and plunged the knife into his chest. He died before hitting the ground.

A crack crossed Bill's face. "No," he hissed again. More cracks appeared on his skin, bright and horrifying. "No!" he cracked slowly and screamed in agony until he finally exploded in a flash of light. Everyone stared at the spot where Bill was standing a second ago, and now nothing remained of him.

Suddenly Stanley's body moved, then rose up. Apart from the blood which stained his clothes where he stabbed himself he looked pretty much alive. Then his eyes lit up with blue light which was quite similar to Bill's light in his triangle form. He seemed to feel the suspicion that began to consolidate among the others and said, "I know you don't trust me, and I understand why." His voice reminded them Bill's, but sounded more like Stanley's. "But I can explain!"

"You can start by telling us who you are," suggested Stanford.

"Alright then. My name is Tad Strange, and until I've met this human I didn't mean to get involved…"

 **Flashback**

Tad was running - more precisely, floating - as fast as he could. The human ran by his side, keeping the pace. _Impressive,_ thought Tad, though the human has already impressed him when he saved him from the Lucianne. Unfortunately, she was still chasing them.

"Strange!" she cried. "Come back, you have _no idea_ what you're doing!"

"I'm doing you - and all of us - a favor!" he answered angrily. "If you want to be useful, help me stop the rebel demon!" _She's not on his side, right?_

"If you're not gonna help me, at least leave the human here," she insisted. "He mustn't leave - if it'll happen…"

Tad lost his patience completely and turned to the six-fingered human. "If the Lucianne will follow you to the human world, or you'll encounter Cipher, you might need my help." He gave him a small, blue crystal. "The crystal when shattered will open a gateway that will allow me to teleport to wherever you'll be at the moment. Only you will be able to see and hear me, but Cipher might sense me if I'll get too close, so make sure he's not around when you summon me." The human nodded, and Tad opened a portal in front of them. "The portal will take you to the exact place you came from! Get in, now!" the human jumped in, and the portal disappeared. Tad sighed with relief - now damn Armageddon can't reach the human world.

But she can reach him.

"The ground is shaking, inferior demon." her eyes were full of hatred. "Fire is raging, and the Dark One is coming. You could've stop the human and save us all. But the Space Demon just **had** to take action against his rebel brother, right? _Why must you be so selfish!?_ "

 _Me?_ He looked at her, shocked, and then said, "The Dark One's mortal partner is one of the humans on the Other Side." he waved his hand and opened another portal. "Go there, find him and stop him."

She was about to pass through, but hesitated. "It's a direct passage, right? No intermediate dimensions?"

"No intermediate dimensions," he confirmed.

She looked at him suspiciously but nodded. "Alright." The Lucianne stepped through the portal, and right after she did Tad closed it. The portal _was_ a direct passage without intermediate dimensions - only it didn't lead to the human world, but rather to the Dimension of the Forgotten - an abandoned dimension in which the rulers of Tad's dimension imprisoned criminals, deserters, rebels and insane creatures like Armageddon. _The Dark One is gone,_ thought Tad contemptuously. _Or else I would've sense_ _oscillations in his area._

Later Tad felt an unusual vibration in space and recognized its origin as the human's magical crystal. He teleported to where the vibration came from and found himself in a tunnel. There was a note on the floor, partly written with invisible ink:

 **Release me exactly in twenty minutes. Make sure He won't see you.**

 **Then give me my knife. He can't do anything without the 10th Symbol.**

Once again Tad was impressed by the human's courage. And so he did as he had to, and while Bill was engrossed in his spell, he released the human and gave him the knife.

But even Tad did not expect Stanley's next move.

After Bill faded all the other humans stared at Stanley's bleeding body, and Tad felt that he owed them some explanations. He took over the body and told them everything. When he'd finished he - and Stanley - returned to the dimension on the Other Side.

Tad was hoping that from now on he won't have to go to the human world ever again.

 **End flashback**

After Bill was defeated, Tad and Stanley left and the energy ropes faded Gideon was the first to leave the Bunker. Dipper got up and considered chasing him. _It doesn't matter,_ he thought. _He's an escaped criminal now, he has nowhere to go and nothing to do._

The eight who were still inside went out together. It was about First Light but the sky was still dark. All around the forest trees were uprooted. Uusally from this spot one could see the town's lights - especially during bright nights like this one - but now everything was dark.

"Oh, shit, it's morning already?" Robbie sounded shaken. _My parents are going to kill me. They'd probably already dug a grave for me,_ he though. "What a trauma, right guys? Well, gotta go." He waved goodbye and walked to the town.

Soos watches as he left, then turned to look at Dipper and Mabel. "I should check if my Abuelita's alright. Are you… gonna be okay?"

"Hmm? Yeah, sure, Soos." answered Mabel. "You better go."

"Okay. Call me if you need something, dudes." He walked away.

Pacifica was leaning on a tree, separate from the rest of the group. Dipper came to her. "Hey, umm… aren't you going back to your mansion?"

She didn't look at him. "I…" she cleared her throat, and said with a steadier voice: "No. I'm sick of the way my parents treat me. If all this crazy things wouldn't happen today - I mean, yesterday - I would run away."

Dipper hesitated, and then said: "If you want to, you can live with us."

She looked surprised. There was a tear in the corner of her eye. "R-really?"

"Well, Stan won't oppose, I think… and Mabel and I won't neither. Besides, your parents _are_ kinda repelling." They giggled. "So… what does it make… us?"

"Friends, I guess?" Dipper shrugged. Pacifica nodded. "Friends."

Wendy approached them. "Hey, you okay there?"

"Aren't you going to help your dad?" asked Dipper.

"Nah. You know him; he'll do better on his own. Besides, you seem to need help more than he does." she paused. "Unless you want me to go…"

"No, no, stay!" Dipper cleared his throat again. "I mean… yeah, that would be great."

"Great. Now why wouldn't you get back to the Shack? You- I mean, we - have been through quite a lot. Give me a moment to call Mabel and we'll go together, okay?"

"Okay," they nodded.

McGucket and Stanford walked a bit away from the kids and talked quietly. "So… you remember everything now?" asked Stan.

"Most of it, yeah." answered Fiddleford and sighed. "I just feel sorry for not doing that earlier."

"We're both sorry for many things we should've done earlier, but we can't change the past. Oh, and now that I mentioned the past… I guess I can't go back to the Shack because of the agents." He looked at his old friend. "The junkyard isn't a nice residence, right?"

"No." McGucket frowned. "Why?"

"I guess you'd like to join me for a few weeks - or maybe months - in the Bunker?"

McGucket nodded. "Thanks."

They remained quiet for a few moments, and Stan watched as the skies lightened. "So we stopped the apocalypse? And the end of the world?"

"The end of the world, yes, but not the apocalypse."

Stan raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

"People tend to remember only the first part of the meaning of the word 'apocalypse', and they always forget the second one. It's not the end of the world; it's _the end of the world as we know it_. And after what happened tonight, nothing will ever be the same..."

Dawn broke upon a new morning, a brand new day, an entirely new era, without the threat of demons for the human race, and with only nine Symbols remaining in the world.

 **But the ground is shaking. Fire is raging. And the Dark One is coming.**

 _A/N: I'M SO SORRY I HAD TO DO THIS BUT I DIDN'T WANT TO AND I CRIED A LITTLE BIT WHILE WRITING THIS AND NOW I FEEL BAD FOR KILLING HIM BUT DAMN IT WAS SO GOOD ARGH!_

 _Yeah, sorry about that. I'm just TOO excited because of "A Tale of Two Stans" so I'm just shouting and singing and… Sorry._

 _Anyway, this is it, folks! I_ _ **might**_ _write a sequel, and it_ _ **might**_ _have something to do with the Dark One…_

 _If you liked my story, please review, like &share! _


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